Samsung officially opened an artificial intelligence (AI) research centre in New York City which will specialise in robotics research.

The South Korea-based vendor announced plans to expand its AI research capabilities to employ about 1,000 specialists by 2020. This is its sixth AI centre around the world: in a statement, Samsung said the facility will work in partnership with the company’s other AI research facilities in South Korea, the UK, Canada, Russia and Silicon Valley. In May the company said it would open AI centres in the UK, Canada and Russia.

Samsung’s New York centre is led by Daniel Lee, EVP of Samsung Research and a global authority in AI robotics, who joined Samsung in June. He said: “we look forward to collaborating with top universities and academic centres in the region”.

Sebastian Seung, chief research scientist of Samsung, said the centre will cooperate with leading authorities in neuroscience-based AI technologies.

“The field of AI has made revolutionary progress by finally embracing neural networks,” Seung said. “This is just the beginning of a new era of innovation in AI, and we at the Samsung AI research centre in New York are proud to be part of this exciting quest.”

In early August the smartphone giant committed to a KRW25 trillion ($22.3 billion) investment over three years in areas including AI and 5G, which it hopes will drive its future growth. The company said the sum is part of a planned investment of KRW180 trillion.